


Emerald Eyes

by Fox_155



Series: Heaven (NCT Hybrid AU) [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Bickering, Doyoung running for Tsundere of the year, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Hybrids, Hybrids aren't well treated in this AU, M/M, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Misunderstandings, One Shot, mentions of euthanasia, the typical cat-and-mouse Dotae relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 10:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18776461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: Doyoung has been living with Taeil for four years. Four years of being the only Hybrid in the house and living a peaceful life.Until Taeil adopts this cat Hybrid he found on the streets. A particularly annoying, weird cat Hybrid that seems unbothered by Doyoung’s clear signs of not wanting to become friends.





	Emerald Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of the people and this story isn't by any means an accurate representation of the people by whom it is inspired by.
> 
> Hello, it’s me, the person who cannot let go of her AUs and has to write spin-offs. This is a prequel to [Moon Diamond](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17644265/chapters/41606183), but you don’t have to read that one to understand this. This is set 6 years prior to Moon Diamond.
> 
> Emerald is one of the birth stones for the zodiac sign cancer (which is Taeyong’s), the brightest star in the sign cancer is called Al Tarf, which translates to eye or lion eye, depending on where you look. It also happens to be Taeyong’s eye colour in this AU, so the name fit quite nicely. ^^
> 
> For visual reference, these are the hair, eye, tail, and ear colours I envisioned for the two:
> 
> [Taeyong, Russian Blue](https://azure.wgp-cdn.co.uk/app-yourcat/posts/russian_blue1.jpg)  
> [TwylaTwyl’s fanart for my AU](https://www.instagram.com/p/BwXP5Fcgxls/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1h8grutjlb53o)
> 
> [Doyoung, Holland Lop](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/62/c9/c1/62c9c1780151f45896b7fa72f20b7521.jpg)  
> [Art of Doyoung](https://twitter.com/KeiSugarbat/status/1158240634286854145)  
> I won’t go into deep emotional bonds and dark pasts in this, it’s just a light, silly, short story, highlighting a bit of their dynamic and how they both first got to know each other.

#####

In some ways, maybe Doyoung was a bit like a spoilt only child?

Honestly, in a moment of self-reflection, he felt a bit like one. Getting jealous over having to share his owner, his room, his toys, his everything.

He just couldn’t help it! It had always only been him and Taeil, ever since he had taken him in four years ago.

Objectively, he knew he should be happy for his owner. That he was finally in a place where he could fulfil his dream of helping more Hybrids than only Doyoung. Keeping even one Hybrid had been straining while he still had to pay for school. Now that he was in residency at the university hospital, he finally had money to pay for another one in need of a loving home.

Doyoung had known that Taeil wanted to do that. It had even sounded cool, he had been full onboard: helping others in need, just how Taeil had helped him, like getting a little sibling or something.

It had just been a little sudden when Taeil had come home last week and announced he had found a stray on the streets and he was currently being treated in the hospital to join them soon.

Plus, he was older. No cute little brother or sister.

As Doyoung watched this… this cat Hybrid sit on the sofa and look around with huge eyes, he felt none of that happiness he might be supposed to feel.

Who even had eyes that big? They looked dumb!

“So, I hope you can get along well,” Taeil concluded his little introduction of the cat. If Doyoung had any say in this, he could go right back to quarantine, where he was far away.

“Thank you, I hope so, too.” The cat smiled. His voice didn’t match his overly cute appearance. Too deep and nasal. Super stupid, like everything else about him, from ear to tail.

“Doyoung?” Taeil asked, smile a little strained.

“Yeah.” He gritted out, only to make Taeil happy.

Taeil was like his father, or much older brother, having raised and showered him with love as long as he had been living with him, so Doyoung didn’t want to give him a hard time.

But he also didn’t want Taeil to give that to anyone else. He was Doyoung’s!

“Taeyong said he was trained in cooking and enjoyed it. Maybe you could do that together in the future, what do you think?”

Oh joy, not only would Doyoung have to share his room, but he’d also have to share his hobbies. How fun.

“Sure.” He hoped it got abundantly clear that he didn’t want to cook together, but the hostility seemed to pass by the other Hybrid, who beamed.

“That’d be amazing! What do you enjoy eating most, Taeil-Hyung?” the dumb cat cocked his head. It felt fake, much too polite, much too perfectly adjusted. Much too adorable. Urgh.

“Oh, I don’t care, it’s all Doyoung deciding, or we discuss it together. I don’t like running this household like some imperator. You can cook whatever you like.”

That seemed to confuse the cat, and Doyoung rolled his eyes. He shouldn’t be mean, but it was so stupid, to see him stuck in this idea of pleasing his owner.

“Me? I…” Taeyong looked at Doyoung like he expected help.

“Form your own opinion, you’ll need it.” Doyoung snarled and got off the sofa to march to his room. Better push around some more stuff than sit there and watch that weirdo any additional second.

Hopefully, he’d keep the room clean. Or. Clean-ish. Doyoung wasn’t really that orderly himself. But he didn’t want to breed ants in here. If he didn’t, he was going to nag him, that was for sure. Not that he wanted to nag. It was just because cleanliness was important. Totally.

Taeil had said he planned to move as soon as he had the resources to. Doyoung knew that housing was very expensive, so he had tried to assure him it was fine. But seeing his formerly own, tiny room completely re-decorated to fit two people suddenly made him wish that Taeil would finish his training as soon as possible and get that own clinic he dreamt of, including some bigger home.

Where he would have his own room, with no dumb cat to share.

Doyoung huffed and flopped onto his bed – the lower bunk, he hated being so far up in the air, bunny instinct that made you stick as close to the ground as possible – and grabbed his book.

This new Hybrid was already so annoying.

 

It took maybe ten minutes for the dumb new cat to disturb him by coming to their room, just when he was in the middle of a particularly interesting paragraph of natural selection.

“H-hi?”

Doyoung glanced over the edge of his book and fixed the cat in a glare “What?”

He flinched and Doyoung felt a spark of pity, wondering if he had maybe been too brash. No, it was fine, this cat was invading his home after all!

“Uh… Taeil-Hyung said we’d share this room?”

“Yeah.” Doyoung disappeared behind his book again.

“Do I take the upper one?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

Doyoung groaned and dropped the book. “Yes, obviously, or I wouldn’t be lying down here.”

“Oh.” The cat had perked up, his tail curled into a happy cane behind him, ears sticking up. One had a deep gash. Doyoung had noticed it before, wondered if he had gotten it on the street or if it was older. It looked old, healed perfectly. That was the only thing tainting his stupid good looks. “Thank you so much! That’s so great!”

And with that, he bounced over and climbed the bunk bed like it was a jungle gym. Doyoung held onto the frame as it shook.

“Hey! Don’t make it collapse!”

A second later, a head appeared from the upper bed, upside down, the grey hair hanging into his face. Doyoung jerked away in surprise.

“Sorry. But this is so exciting!” the dumb cat grinned brightly. “I’ve never had the upper bunk, everyone else always wanted it.”

“W-well you can always have it here. I hate behind high up.”

“Oh! Okay! Thank you, anyway.”

The cat swung back up, and the frame rattled again.

This was so annoying!

 

When Doyoung woke the next morning, the upper bed was empty, and when he came for breakfast, the cat was already on the table, inspecting his food. It was simple rice with soup, something Doyoung prepared in bulk to easily warm up.

He was plucking apart the rice grains and staring at them like it was alien life. He popped one single into his mouth and chewed before his eyes widened and he jumped in his place.

Doyoung watched in mild concern. It almost looked like he was… malfunctioning?

“Hey, Doie. I noticed we’re nearly out of salt, I’ll drop by the store later, do you need anything else?” Taeil asked, making him snap from thinking about the cat’s odd behaviour.

“Uh, yeah if you’re going, can you bring some apples?”

“Sure. Taeyong, do you want something to eat, something special?”

Taeyong had picked up his spoon and was eating like a normal person now, but looked up with huge eyes.

“Me?”

“Yes, anything you like?”

“Uh…” he looked confused again. Doyoung wanted to tell him he looked like an idiot. He didn’t. He had manners. But he still did look like one. Totally. Not cute at all.

“You can think about it and tell me later, Doyoung can send me a text, right, Doie?”

“Hm.”

Doyoung flopped down on the table, as far away from the dumb cat as possible. Taeil was humming under his breath, as he got dressed to leave for his day shift.

“Be nice!” he said, as he grabbed his keys. Doyoung stared at the soup, pretending that it wasn’t directed at him in particular. He was nice, okay? “I’ll be back for dinner.”

“Bye, Hyung.”

“Bye-bye, Taeil-Hyung!” Taeyong waved excessively until the door fell shut.

Doyoung expected his trained owner-persona to fall and reveal some bad personality or something, but it didn’t. Taeyong kept munching on his food, looking like it was the best meal he ever had in his life, happily sighing under his breath every other second.

When Doyoung was finished, he got up, which made the cat snap from his happy-but-turtle-speed-eating.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m… doing the dishes.” Doyoung slowly said, turning to the kitchen.

“I’ll help you!” the cat was suddenly right next to him and Doyoung startled in surprise. The cat was taller than him, only by a bit but his ears sticking up where Doyoung’s were floppy gave him a few additional centimetres which made the height difference seem even bigger. Doyoung didn’t appreciate that.

“Don’t you want to finish eating first? I made that, do you want to throw it out?” Doyoung asked, narrowing his eyes.

The stupid smile on the cat’s face dropped.

“No! I was going to finish it later!”

“Well, finish it now!” Doyoung huffed.

He didn’t expect the cat to turn on his heel and dart back to the table, so he watched in surprise as he did just that, sat back down, and started shovelling the food down.

“Finished!”

“You’re… you’re weird.” Doyoung mumbled to himself.

The cat cocked his head “Is that bad?”

“N-no.”

How could he be so annoying?

 

“What are you reading?”

Doyoung snapped back to reality from behind his book, when the sofa dipped and suddenly there was someone half-lying on him.

He stared right into the dumb cat’s bright green eyes, who was using him as his personal pillow. What was happening? Why were they suddenly cuddling? He didn’t want the dumb cat on him, absolutely totally not!

Doyoung used the book to hit him over the head and the cat squeaked but backed off.

“I’m not a sofa!”

“I was just wanting to cuddle!”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

The cat held his head and looked at Doyoung with shiny eyes. They really were too big for his face, but Doyoung couldn’t stay mad.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to use you as a sofa. I just…” he sniffled and Doyoung panicked. No, no, no, no tears!

He reached into his pocket and quickly produced a clean tissue, thrusting it towards the cat, who took it.

“Sorry, too,” Doyoung mumbled. He hadn’t meant to be this mean. The cat loudly blew his nose.

“Do you not like me?” he asked, his voice so shaky and full of misery that Doyoung felt immediately ten times worse. “I… that’s okay. I can just go and not be in your way. I get it, people usually don’t like me.”

“No!”

“No?” the cat blinked at him.

“No, I… urgh, I just… don’t… urgh. We can… cuddle, I guess, if you want to.”

“Yes!” the cat hick-upped and all but threw himself onto Doyoung again, who went down with a groan, his book getting trapped between his body and the sofa uncomfortably as the dumb cat rubbed his head against his torso eagerly.

Now he couldn’t read! This was so annoying!

 

The reason why Doyoung had even ended up with Taeil when he had been only ten, and thus still much too young to be officially sold, was his chronic illness.

Diabetes in Hybrids was hardly researched, and usually remained untreated, Hybrids with the flaw were simply put down. That had been the plan for him as well, hadn’t there been Taeil doing an internship at the office he had been brought to, announcing he’d love to keep him and do some more investigation on the illness and how it differed from that in humans – if at all.

At the time, Doyoung hadn’t really cared, much too sick and weak to even consider objecting, but looking back it had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. What had started out as a study experiment, soon became a real bond, one that Taeil had apparently not been expecting.

To the public, Hybrids were marketed as nothing more than speaking pets: cute, pretty, but dumb and willing to obey every command.

The willing to obey was sort of true, though not due to their nature, but rather their upbringing. If given the education, a Hybrid’s cognitive capabilities weren’t lacking behind a human’s, Taeil had found out when he started teaching a recovering, now bored Doyoung.

After that, the human had started reading more into studies done on Hybrids. They weren’t really made public, of course. The public didn’t want their views questioned, they just wanted to keep their pretty Hybrids. But it changed Taeil’s opinion and by extension Doyoung’s, who hadn’t questioned his own place in society yet, seeing how young he had been.

Taeil researched Diabetes and how to treat it in Hybrids on him, but more importantly, he became his teacher and father figure, answering the questions young Doyoung had once he got healthy enough to think about the more difficult puzzles of life.

 

Apparently, the new Hybrid hadn’t gotten to the questioning stage yet either.

“Are you sure?” the dumb cat eyed Doyoung’s book like it might bite.

“Yeah. Just give it a try.”

It wasn’t that Doyoung wanted to give up his beloved books, especially not to annoying cat Hybrids. But the recent days had been a lot of the dumb cat cleaning every last inch of the house and then annoying him once he was done because he wanted to cuddle during Doyoung’s study time.

“But that’s… that’s just for humans, isn’t it?” he was still eying the book in suspicion.

“Yeah, because no one writes books for Hybrids. You said you can read, just start it.”

“What if I don’t understand it?”

“Okay, if you really don’t, then ask me, I’ll explain it.”

The dumb cat looked up with his stupid wide eyes, that were so full of wonder now.

“Really?”

“Y-yes.”

“Okay. Thank you!” he broke into a brilliant smile and for some reason, Doyoung’s heart skipped a beat.

“Whatever.”

Really, this was so annoying, even babysitting wouldn’t be as exhausting.

 

“Tastes almost perfect, maybe a little more sugar?”

Doyoung frowned. Almost perfect? Excuse him? Still, he reached for the sugar, as the dumb cat had suggested, added some, stirred again, and tried once more.

It actually tasted better.

But it was hard to focus on cooking when the dumb cat was busy rubbing his cheek into his hair from where he had attached himself to Doyoung’s back. That was why it hadn’t been perfect upon the first try. It was all the dumb cat’s fault!

It had become routine over the last weeks. They’d wash up after breakfast, the dumb cat would clean the room while Doyoung studied, then they’d study together until lunch, for which they’d try new recipes they had found, then there was lazy time in the afternoon, and more studying until it was time to prepare dinner.

Of course, it’d be much nicer to follow this routine alone, but Doyoung was stuck with the dumb cat, so at least they had found a way to make it work.

Despite that, Doyoung didn’t miss a chance to complain and nag for the inconvenience that having to live with the cat was. Sometimes he started having this stupid thought that it was actually kind of nice to have someone to talk to during the day when Taeil was at work. He must slowly be going crazy from having to watch the dumb cat jerk around in his fits of malfunctioning he sometimes had.

Taeil had first worried it might a neuronal abnormality and needed to be taken care of. But it wasn’t. It was just the Hybrid version of a cat suddenly snapping and having its five minutes of going haywire.

It wasn’t cute at all, Doyoung had absolutely not once thought that ever, it was just really stupid.

“I read this really interesting article about the reasoning behind Pluto and its status as a planet.” The dumb cat shuffled along as Doyoung transferred their lunch to two bowls, so he wouldn’t have to let go of Doyoung.

“Where? I want to read it, too.”

It was those moments when Doyoung’s heart did this weird, unnecessary little skip thing.

“I-I’ll show you later.”

“Great, I’m looking forward to it. I always thought it was so sad he was no longer a planet. He must be miserable, imagine suddenly being kicked from your group of friends.”

“Uh… I don’t think planets have feelings? Or friends?”

“Yeah, but… imagine!”

“That’s just stupid.”

“It’s not!” Taeyong whined and Doyoung felt him bite down on his ear a little. Doyoung yelped and pulled away, but it was just a nip, so it didn’t really hurt. “Sorry.”

Seriously, who bit people and immediately apologised?

This was so annoying…

 

Doyoung normally didn’t have trouble sleeping. However, he was rudely woken in the middle of the night, the room still pitch-black, from his bed shaking and the mattress dipping.

He forced one eye open and saw a pair of glowing ones look back at him.

“What?” he asked, voice husky from sleep.

“I… Can I sleep here?”

“Why?”

“T-Taeil-Hyung’s not home and… I usually sleep with him when I get scared.”

“Urgh, yeah.” Doyoung scooted to the side and closed his eyes again. Taeil was gone to visit his parents over the weekend, nothing out of the ordinary. A faint burn of jealousy over hearing the dumb cat had been sleeping in his bed stung in his chest.

Whatever. He was big enough to sleep alone, no reason for envy here.

“Thank you.”

Doyoung had expected the dumb cat to just roll up on the empty space, but instead, he slithered under his blanket and stared wrapping himself around Doyoung’s body, like a snake rather than a cat Hybrid, nuzzling his nose into Doyoung’s neck.

His body was warm, but not uncomfortably so, and he could feel his heartbeat against his back.

Doyoung hadn’t really thought much about what he might be going through. He knew the dumb cat was seeing a therapist, but it wasn’t his business, so he had never asked.

But suddenly, Doyoung wondered what had happened to him to be so easily scared and anxious sometimes.

He quickly pushed the thought away. What the hell? This was the dumb cat he was thinking about! He didn’t care what he did!

Still, while his breathing evened out and he fell back asleep, Doyoung remained wide awake, staring at the light blue wall, his heart thundering in his chest.

This was so, so, so annoying!

 

“Why do you keep stacking three bowls on top of each other? They’re much harder to pull out that way!” Doyoung complained. The dumb cat had slowly started to do some things differently from how he had always done them. It was disturbing his personal order!

“If you stack three, the door of the cupboarded closes, which makes it look neater and getting them out isn’t that much extra work.”

Doyoung nearly dropped the dish he was holding.

He turned the dumb cat’s direction and saw him look back, not shying away from Doyoung’s annoyed expression.

That… that was new. Since when did he have his own opinion?

“But…”

“Taeil-Hyung said it’s my kitchen as much as his.” He cut in before Doyoung could even raise his point. That was new, too.

“Fine,” Doyoung grumbled. He wasn’t sure how to deal with this… outspoken dumb cat. But for some reason, his heartbeat was hammering in his ears again. Could that please just stop?

“I also thought about the laundry schedule and I think it can be tweaked to run a little smoother.”

“I was fine until now, though. Why change it?”

“Because it could be better.”

Doyoung slammed the container of milk down.

“You can’t come here and throw everything around! I was doing just fine without you; I don’t need you ruining everything!”

Doyoung turned and ran from the kitchen, away to the privacy of his room. He couldn’t deal with this, couldn’t deal with anything concerning this dumb cat.

It was satisfying to slam the living room door behind himself, and then the bedroom door as well, making it shake on its hinges.

Doyoung threw himself on his bed and pulled his blanket over his whole body, curling up.

He hadn’t asked for this, this, this dumb cat to come into his life and completely overturn everything. He wasn’t even sure what he did wrong, just something about his presence constantly made Doyoung feel on edge.

Yes, he was jealous!

But what even over?

God, this was so annoying!

 

“Doie?”

“No! Leave me alone!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you would be upset, I just thought it’d be a good idea to change the laundry plan. Since there’s the clothing of more people to wash now.”

“I don’t care, do whatever you want to. Just go!”

“But I don’t want to fight!” Doyoung felt the mattress dip and then he felt the dumb cat flop himself on top of him, hugging him through the blanket. “Please?”

Doyoung felt tears collect in his eyes and quickly wiped them off on his sheets. He wasn’t going to cry! He wasn’t a cry baby, for god’s sake!

Truthfully, he also didn’t want to fight. He wished he wanted because that’d make everything so much easier, but he didn’t.

So, he worked his way out of his blanket.

“Fine.”

“You’re not mad anymore?”

“No.” Doyoung wasn’t facing the dumb cat, but he didn’t need to, from how furiously the other was rubbing his face all over his back.

“But I still think we should adjust the laundry schedule.”

“This is the worst apology! You didn’t even mean it!”

“Yes, I did! I don’t want you to be upset!”

“But you still want to do the thing I don’t want!”

“Because it makes sense.”

Doyoung struggled and managed to roll onto his back, glaring up at the dumb cat. But, again, he held his stare with these big, green eyes of his, and eventually, Doyoung gave in.

“Fine. If you really want to.”

“I do! Thank you!”

And then suddenly, he leaned down and planted a peck onto Doyoung’s cheek. It was quick and short, and he scrambled off Doyoung’s bed and hopped across the room, humming, immediately after.

But that… that had been a kiss!

Doyoung slowly raised his hand to touch his tingling cheek, staring after the dumb cat with wide eyes.

This… this… this was so annoying!

 

It didn’t happen again.

 

Doyoung was kind of sad it didn’t, but he also was much too embarrassed to bring it up. What the hell, he didn’t want kisses from the dumb cat!

Except he really did.

 

The love interests in the dramas Taeyong liked to watch were usually… cool, tall, smart, and mysterious. So, Doyoung guessed he’d have to be cool, tall, smart, and mysterious.

He worked on the smart part first, because that seemed easy. He also drank more milk, so he’d grow tall – taller than Taeyong, that was very important, the love interests were always taller.

Okay, usually the love interests were men and the protagonists women, but that was beside the point.

 

He wasn’t sure about the cool and mysterious part.

Continuously getting into pointless fights with Taeyong probably wasn’t that. But it was always just… infuriating! Things such as the cutlery drawer, or the bathroom decoration.

At first, it was Taeyong coming to apologise first, but over time, Doyoung started being the one to give in and come to seek the cat out to say sorry.

 

Somehow, time seemed to pass by faster than he realised.

 

Doyoung out-grew Taeyong in height to the point that he was on a level with the cat’s ears, but it didn’t help him feel any more confident or less embarrassed about admitting to wanting to kiss him.

 

Taeil got the clinic he had worked so hard for and they moved into a much bigger flat, which suddenly meant Taeyong was no longer his roommate.

 

Speaking of roommates, Doyoung got even more company, as Taeil adopted more Hybrids from different situations of need. First was Yuta, followed by Jaehyun, Kun, Jaemin, Sicheng, Jeno, and then Ten.

 

None of them were like Taeyong, though. None of them made Doyoung want to blow up in jealousy and useless complaints. In annoyance, maybe. Especially Yuta and Ten knew how to push his buttons. But not the type of annoyance he had felt over Taeyong.

Because he wasn’t in love with them. It was only Taeyong.

Too bad the chance to tell him seemed to have passed by. He wasn’t even sure when, but over getting a job to teach children, trying to fit more and more Hybrids into the limited space of the flat, and somehow finding himself getting these little siblings he had always wanted, Taeyong was no longer only his to annoy and bicker with all day.

It felt like with each new Hybrid that had come, the distance had grown further between them. Taeyong would cook together with Kun, listen to Jaehyun’s worries, cuddle with Ten, and fuss over Sicheng.

And Doyoung?

Doyoung would go to teach his children, answer 1001 questions Jeno asked, bicker with Yuta, make sure Jaehyun was doing his skincare routine for his eczema, and bring Sicheng and Ten to the therapist.

Sometimes, he’d lie awake in the evening, toss and turn, wondering if he’d ever get the chance to change that again, go back to when Taeyong had been his in the first place and everyone else’s in the second.

Or maybe if he had become everyone else’s before being Taeyong’s as well?

But in his heart, the first person Doyoung always thought about, would want to make sure was safe and happy, was Taeyong.

If only he could show that to him more, could give him that special priority he deserved in Doyoung’s eyes.

 

“Who put the bowls so close to each other into the dishwasher?”

“Me. They still get clean, but you can fit in more.”

Taeyong looked up from the scene of the crime with a glare.

“They get clean? Does this look clean?” he held up a bowl with a dark rim.

“You can just wipe that down and it’s fine. But like this, the dishwasher can be used to the full extent.”

“We use this so we don’t have to do it by hand, we could just do it by hand if we stack it so that it’s going to be extra work.”

Taeyong had stepped up close enough to stab his sharp index finger into Doyoung’s chest. He had to look up to keep glaring at him, but Doyoung wasn’t going to be the first to give in. Even when angry, Taeyong’s eyes were still so big and round, making him look cute rather than intimidating. He always looked cute to Doyoung, always looked pretty, no matter what he did.

But that didn’t mean he was going to give in on this.

“Well, I was trying to save the planet here, but guess not.”

“The planet won’t be saved from us doing one dishwasher loading more or less, as long as big corporations keep polluting it.”

Doyoung loved it when Taeyong was being smart, even if it was to ruin his own arguments.

“With that attitude, it won’t.”

Taeyong snorted, but his angry expression broke and he started chuckling. “Why are you so annoying, oh my god.”

“Me? Annoying? I’m sure as hell not even nearly as annoying as you.” Doyoung complained, “For the first year it was the only word I would have needed to describe you.”

“Oh yeah? The whole first year? Are you sure? And? What did you add since?”

Taeyong cocked his head, a challenging grin on his lips.

Doyoung just wanted to kiss it off, hold him tight against his body, how they used to do so often. It’d be different now, surely, because Taeyong would no longer be the bigger one of the two of them.

But, again, courage left him before he could pull through with it.

“I added a ‘really’.”

“Really annoying?” Taeyong pouted, his eyes appearing even bigger.

“Y-yeah.”

“You know that Ten said I was a bit like the dad in this family?”

“No.”

“Well, yeah. It’s kinda nice, right? You shouldn’t talk back to me, as the head of the family.”

Doyoung thought about it. Taeyong did hold the reins in the household. Despite him loving to talk back, even Doyoung would admit he had everything under control and quite good ideas on how to solve problems easily.

“I guess that fits.”

“Hm… so?”

“What so?” Doyoung felt like he was missing something. He hated the feeling. “Do you want me to call you daddy or what?”

Taeyong’s face immediately started to take a shade of pink that slowly got darker and darker, as he opened and closed his mouth without saying a word. Doyoung suddenly realised the implication as Taeyong kept impersonating a goldfish.

“No! Not like that! Unless you like that, which, I mean…”

“Oh my god, Doyoung, what the hell?” Taeyong slapped his arm and then turned in his spot and darted out the door. Doyoung could hear him run down the hallway and the door of the cats’ shared room fall shut.

Well, he had definitely made a mistake.

Wait, did Taeyong actually have a daddy kink?

Doyoung’s stopped himself in the thought progress and hurried after the cat. Sicheng and Jeno looked up from where they were seated on the sofa but didn’t follow. Taeyong and he sometimes had a bigger fight, during which they might slam doors, so the two probably expected it to be that.

 

“Hyung…” Doyoung hated getting up on the bunk bed, but that was where Taeyong was wrapped up in his blanket. “Hyung, I’m sorry, I didn’t think.”

There was no reply and Doyoung took a deep breath and stepped onto the ladder to the upper bed, pulling himself up.

Taeyong shuffled in the bed and flopped away the blanket, looking at Doyoung who had managed to climb into the mattress now. His face was still red, but he didn’t look angry.

“What are you doing? You hate heights.”

“But I don’t want you to be mad with me!” Doyoung lamented and scooted into the middle of the bed, where he couldn’t see the ground being so far away anymore. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Taeyong pushed out his lower lip and puffed out his cheeks a bit.

“You’re not really annoying, okay? I was just saying that…” Doyoung muttered.

“I know that, you airhead. It wasn’t why I got angry.”

Doyoung’s brain rattled at neck-breaking speed, but without bringing up any helpful results.

“Is it because of the dad thing?”

Taeyong whined “I was trying to make it cute, and you went and asked if I wanted you to call me daddy!” his face flushed darker again as he flailed in place.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Doyoung felt his whole body heat up in embarrassment.

“But that’s what it came out like! You’re always boasting with your knowledge, but you don’t use your brain when you talk to me?”

“Because my brain isn’t permanently in the gutter!”

“Are you calling my mind filthy?”

Taeyong had stood up on the bed, which meant he was leaned over, looming over Doyoung because the ceiling was too low. He seriously worried for the other’s safety, but he wasn’t going to lose this argument just because Taeyong was about to break his neck.

“I didn’t, that was you.”

“You were making me go there. God, you’re so annoying!”

“I’m not, you are!”

“Am – ah!” Taeyong lost his footing and overbalanced, falling right onto Doyoung, who toppled over backwards and hit his head on the bed frame but wrapped his arms around the cat, keeping him from getting hurt by more falling.

There was a moment of quiet, just Taeyong’s heartbeat hammering against Doyoung’s chest.

“Did you hurt your head?” Taeyong softly asked, starting to squirm in his arms until he managed to sit back up.

Doyoung groaned and felt where he could already feel a bump form on the back of his head.

“I’ll live.”

“Sorry, that was my fault.”

“Yeah, it really was. Who stands up on a bunk bed, these things are the devil’s work without adding some balancing acts.”

“Can you just stop nagging one second of the day?”

“Make me!”

Taeyong glared at him, his green eyes focussed only on Doyoung, and then he leaned closer and the next thing Doyoung realised, Taeyong was kissing him. Not the small peck on the cheek, the type he had gotten years ago, no. Full on the lips.

Before his brain had even computed what was happening, he was already pulling away again.

“There.” Taeyong huffed, looking down. Doyoung felt his lips tingle, just how his cheek had after the first kiss, and saw Taeyong’s tail thrash behind him in anxiousness.

“W... what was that for?”

“To shut you up, duh.” Taeyong turned his direction again, looking nothing but flustered and embarrassed, but so, so adorable “You were being annoying.”

“Oh. Okay, so if I were being more annoying… you’d kiss me again?” Doyoung asked, feeling just as flustered as the cat. “Positive reinforcement, you know?”

Taeyong’s jaw dropped and he stared at Doyoung in utter shock as he seemed to come to the realisation.

“No! No, absolutely not! Oh my god, I take everything back, why? You’re the worst person I could have fallen in love with! What do I even see in you?”

Doyoung couldn’t hold the obnoxious giggle that rose in his chest, as he grabbed Taeyong and pulled him closer, pressing another kiss to his lips.

“It’s fine. I chose even worse, no one is as annoying as you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this short little story about Dotae. If you’re curious to read more, maybe check out Moon Diamond, they both appear in there as well~
> 
> Thank you for reading <3  
> 
> [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


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